Definitely Maybe
by Glamagirl
Summary: CM Punk goes back in memory lane and reflects on his love life, the choices that he made and how it's all affecting his present.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anyone you recognize in this story.

**A/N: A**t the end of this chapter.

**Definitely Maybe**

With his hands safely guarded inside the pockets of his hoodie and his face hidden underneath his customary worn cap, Phil Brooks was walking down the street with the calm of those who didn't live in a hurry. And he didn't, at least not that day. He knew he had a few minutes to spare and since the place he wanted to go was just around the corner he was taking his time in getting there.

That way and walking pass countless of people as he kept going; the tattooed man couldn't help but to mumble under his breath how much he hated every place on Earth that wasn't Chicago.

He hated the intensity of the sun that shone too brightly in his eyes, he hated the awful food and he hated the people and all their pretenses. Maybe it was him that was biased, but really… he wished he was in Chicago.

In his mind there was no place like Chi-Town and he wished he would be walking that same walk in his native Wind City.

But he wasn't, unfortunately and it was what it was, it was always the same… a routine where every two weeks he would take a plane, go from the airport to the grocery store to replenish his fridge, clean up a bit and then go down to take his walk. He has been doing that for more than four years now and even though he hated that State as much as the next, he didn't have it in him not to be right there in that precise moment.

Blowing a breath out of his mouth and lifting his face up, the Chicago native took a turn to the left and there it was, rising up from the ground as it always was; a building full of kids… or as he liked to call it, hell on earth.

In all fairness of being honest, Phil had to admit that he hated schools. He hated it when he was in it and now as an adult he hated it even more. Teachers, meetings, a bunch of kids that weren't your own… he just hated the whole system and its modus operandi.

But this was part of his routine and thus it was part of his life so he folded his hands to his chest and resting his back against a tree he waited the few minutes he had and like he knew it would happen, once those minutes passed by a loud ring was heard all over and in a matter of nothing the doors busted open and an stampede of brats came running out to invade the streets and thus putting an end to peace.

He watched all this, his olive green eyes fixed on the doors until he saw her. The prettiest girl of them all and the only kid he could stomach walking down the stairs with her dark hair pulled up in a messy pony tail while dragging her backpack along the way.

She saw him on the spot, and with a pout gracing her features she walked his way, her body language screaming out loud that she wasn't a happy girl that day.

Now this was odd, Phil was used to have that same girl running to him with a big smile on his face as soon as she saw him and that afternoon she seemed down… maybe even annoyed. It was rare to see her like that and raising an eyebrow he wondered what was with her. But before he could even say hello to then ask her what was with her, the girl folder her arms and with her expressive green olive eyes she spoke first.

"Dad, why my mom and you never got married?"

The question was shot without warning and Phil did a double take; sure, there were a lot worse questions she could have asked him, but still… ah, but he recovered quickly and smiling a genuine smile he clicked his tongue to his cheek and sighed. "Is that how you say hello to your dad? Come and give me a kiss, and don't roll your eyes at me."

The girl did as she was told and Phil collaborated by lowering himself so she could kiss his cheek briefly. "My friend Kim's parents are getting a divorce; she says his dad has a new girlfriend because he doesn't love her mom anymore. Where you and mom boyfriend and girlfriend? She says boyfriends get to have sex and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… wait a minute; hold your horses right there missus." Phil said out loud as he motioned her to stop talking. "Who is this Kim and why are you two talking about sex?" Phil asked, blinking his eyes rapidly as his daughter eyed him up.

Rolling her eyes and blowing out a breath, the girl kept going. "Kim is my friend, I told you dad. And we had a class today where they explained us everything about sex and how it's done."

Oh no, no, no… he didn't know why but he hated the fact that his little girl could know even the basics of sex. She was just a baby and she has no business talking or thinking about sex! "They explained what? Aren't you too young…? Does your mom knows about this?"

"There's a boy in my class that says he heard his parents saying that he was an accident and that's why they got married. Was I an accident too? If I am then why didn't you and mom got married and how do you put your penis by accident in…"

"Hey, don't…" Shaking his head and closing his eyes for a couple of seconds, Phil rose a hand in the air opened his mouth. "You know, I think this is a conversation you should have with your mom… I don't think I'm…"

Fuck, he just wasn't ready to listen to such a thing as his daughter saying the word penis in front of him. Call him old fashioned or a wuss, he didn't care; but he would rather have nothing to do with her inquiring mind.

If she wanted to know more about sex then she sure as hell wasn't going to hear it from him. It would be different if she was a boy, but because she wasn't he was going to leave that duty to her mom.

Yup, must definitely! So with that in mind he took her backpack and started to walk back the way he came. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

At his words, the ten year old girl lowered her gaze and bit on her lips as she sighed loudly. "I just wanted to know about you and mom and why did you have me."

Phil watched her out of the corner of his eye, frowning. The girl was walking by his side, but she had what he thought was the most miserable face ever…

He didn't like seeing her like that, he may always be the prick everyone said he was but when it came to his daughter he had another side; a much gentler side that most of his friends could barely believe.

"I'll tell you what, ask me anything that doesn't have to deal with sex and I'll answer you with the truth and nothing with the truth."

At that, the girl's face lit up and her big green eyes fixed in his. "Really, do you pinky promise?"

"Yes, I pinky promise." He hissed, unable to ignore the fact that even though the girl had his eyes and coloring, she looked exactly like her mother. Same smile, same features and definitely her same gestures.

"Hmmm." Placing a finger to her lips, the girl closed one eye and then gasped. "Oh I know, tell me how you and mom met."

"Easy one, we worked together."

"Was she your girlfriend?"

Using his fingers to scratch the skin right below his ear, Phil quirked his lips and took in a deep breath. "Well…"

"Uncle Colt said you've had a lot of girlfriends."

Snorting, Phil put his hands back in his pockets and shrugged. "I wouldn't say they were a lot but yeah I've dated a few girls back in my day. In fact, right before I had you there were three girls in my life and even though I didn't date them all you can say that they were like 'girlfriends'.

"Three?" The girl asked dropping her jaw in amazement.

"Uh hum, and you know what, I'm going to tell you about it as the story of how I meet your mother; but… there's going to be a catch, I'm going to change all the names and you'll have to find out who is your mom. Let's see how smart you really are."

The girl giggled, wrinkling her nose and looking up to her dad as he took hold of her pony tail to run his fingers through it. "Okay." She said, the two of them walking down the street as they did every two weeks when he would pick her up at school on Friday.

"Alright, so it all started ten years ago while I worked for the biggest wrestling company there was, it was called WWE and we all worked there…"

TBC?

**A/N:** Yes, I got this idea while watching Definitely Maybe and I decided to give it a try with Punk as the main character. This first chapter is like a prologue and then it will follow with some flashbacks told from Punk's POV. Hope you enjoy and feel free to tell me who do you want to see as the three 'girlfriends'. Hope you enjoyed ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Sorry it took me so long to come up with this, I was trying to decide who were going to be the three girlfriends and my mind was split. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews on last chapter, you guys are really the best ;)

Also, most of the chapters will be told as if they were flashbacks and so you won't get confused I centered everything that was happening in the 'present'. The time and space can also get confusing so let's just say that Punk's story will take place this year (2011) and that he and his daughter are living ten years from now… weird, I know but I hope it works.

**Definetely Maybe: Chapter Two**

"Earth to Phil, are you still here with us?"

Shaking his head out of the trance he has been submerged into and tilting it towards the source of the voice that seemed to be talking to him, the Chicago Native known as Phil Brooks blinked a couple of times and mumbled an absent mindedly 'uh?' under his breath.

"Man, you spaced out for a while there. Please don't tell me you are thinking about the Lita girl again?"

Wrinkling his nose and snorting, Phil shook his head in negation. "No… why would I be thinking about her?"

"Well, to start you had that weird expression in your face you only get when you are thinking about her and second, she's the only thing you've been thinking about for the last week or so."

Grunting, Phil slapped his face and then dragged his hand down to his unshaven jaw. Maybe Kofi was right in something, for the last week his ex-girlfriend has been the most recurrent thought on his mind and in more times that he cared to count he has been found thinking about her.

But it was just that he couldn't help it, because as it always happened in cases like that his mind has been invaded with lots of 'why' and 'what did I did wrong' and to that day he still had no answer, only questions and memories.

He especially had a recurrent memory of her and it was about the way she had ended a one year relationship with him by the phone only by saying that she wanted time for herself.

So yeah, it was obvious that he has been thinking a lot about her since that call, after all a few minutes before she so suddenly broke up with him he had thought they were doing perfectly fine… hell, he even got a tattoo of her damn face in his arm a month ago so that spoke volumes of the commitment he had towards her!

But did she care about that? Nooo, she didn't care about shit and like most people had warned him, when he was last expecting it she ended up things.

But that was all in the past so clearing his throat, Phil shrugged again. "Actually, I wasn't thinking about her. I was thinking about this new pet project Vince wants me to take a part of. Didn't you hear?"

Shaking his head no, Kofi folded his arms to his chest and puffed out a breath. "I'm not high enough in Vince's totem pole to know about his new projects."

"Well good for you because listen to this; this is intern so he probably just told the guys he wants to torture but anyway, he's making some shit like adopt a Diva kind of thing and starting tomorrow he'll make me train one of those girls so I can teach her how to really wrestle."

"Really?" The other man laughed out loud and Punk quirked his mouth.

"Don't laugh, this is some serious shit. According to him, the Divas need to step up in their game and _we_ have to teach them everything!"

"Oh man, that sounds awful. Do you at least get to choose your Diva?"

"That's the worst part, I can't choose; not that choosing will help. All these girls are clueless in that ring and you know I don't have the patience to tutor no one."

Grinning, Kofi shrugged. "Maybe you'll get lucky and get Phoenix… oh, talking about her; please explain to me what's the deal between you two?"

"Okay, first things first; Phoenix is not a part of the project and second, what do you mean what's our deal?"

"Oh come on, you've been hanging all around the country with her even before Lita gave you the boot so you know, what's the deal?"

Pushing his lip ring with the tip of his tongue, Phil tilted his head to the left and fixed his eyes on the man sitting in front of him. "The deal is that she is my friend, she's like one of the guys and believe it or not she's the best gym partner I know."

Humming, Kofi leaned forward and arched an eyebrow. "Well, then let me tell you this, I think your gym partner likes you. Who knows, maybe she'll make you forget Lita in a matter of nothing."

Laughing out loud, Phil threw his head back and then rolled his eyes. "You are insane… Phoenix is…"

Moving his head to the side, Phil searched around with his eyes until he caught a glimpse of his female friend. She was talking with one of the girls near the beverage table and she was oblivious to what he and Kofi were talking.

"She's asexual. Okay, not that but like I told you, she's like one of the guys…" Sure, she looked prettier in a dress than any of the guys would but she was still… her!

He has known her for years and hooking up with her would be… weird, almost as dating a sister.

"I think you two would make a great couple; neither of you drinks or smokes, you like the same things and you already like each other enough to go everywhere together."

"Nah… just drop it."

"Okay man, whatever you say. Just remember this conversation in a few months. But anyway, you never told me who is going to be your Diva."

Snorting at the thought of who Vince threw at him to train, Phil shook his head and grunted once again. "This is worse than that NXT crap, trust me. He's making me…"

"Oh look at that." Kofi said interrupting Phil. "I think I know who's going to make you forget about Lita. Guess I'll see you around man."

With the word at the tip of his tongue, Phil turned around and his eyes were immediately greeted with a sight he thought he was never going to see.

"Phil Brooks, blessed are the eyes that see you." The pretty redhead said with a playful chuckle and Phil could do nothing other than stare at the newcomer with a big smile on his face…

"So who was she?"

Arching an eyebrow and looking down at the girl sitting at the chair across from him, Phil blew out a breath and took off his cap to put it on his table. "Are you going to let me finish or what?"

Nodding, the girl took a sip of her Pepsi and then smiled. "Of course I will, daddy; I just want to know so I can decide if she is my mom or not. I don't think Lita is my mom, she doesn't feel like mom. Anyway, what was the name of this new one?"

Clicking his tongue to his cheek, Phil scanned his brain for the first name his mind could grab and once he got it he threw it out there. "MaKi, her name was Maki and she was someone I haven't seen in a very long time…

"MaKi-" Phil said as he stood up from his chair and his right hand automatically went up to scratch behind his ear. The newcomer laughed and without thinking it twice she took two steps towards him and hugged him.

At that, Phil smiled and hugged her back; thinking that even if years have passed since the last time he held the woman so close, she basically still felt the same.

Sure, she was wearing another perfume and her hair was longer, but other than that she still felt the same.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he pulled away from her so he could take a good look at her head to toe.

"Well, I just came to visit." She said with a playful shrug as her green eyes fixed directly into his.

"Look at you, you look great." He said out loud as he scanned her, his eyes taking everything he could.

"Nah, I'm just same ol' me. But you… God, look at your hair!" She exclaimed happily as she casually lifted a hand to touch it to his hair.

"Yeah, I know." Rolling his eyes, the Chicago native lip's curved into a smile as her hand continued to move through his hair and then slowly crawled down to the nape of his neck.

"I like it; maybe I liked it better when it was a bit shorter but you know, it is a good change." Tilting her head and refusing to tear her eyes from his, MaKi dropped her hand away from him and laughed.

"So what about you? It's been a while, uh?"

"Well…" MaKi said with a big smile as she lifted her left hand up, making him catch a glimpse of the big engagement ring that adorner her finger.

"Ohhh." Punk said and raised both eyebrows. "I see you'll be tying the knot; who's the lucky guy?"

"Someone, you don't know him." She responded with a shrug and Phil sighed out loud.

So yeah, he had a history with that woman and even when it went back to a few years prior he still didn't feel comfortable seeing her beaming about marrying some other dude. Not that he still had feelings for her… but as she stood right in front of him he couldn't help but to think that if things would have gone her way, he would have been the one putting rocks in her finger.

And he would have done it, with time he would have… but destiny conspired against them and they had ended up breaking up things amicably. Now there she was, years after and looking beautiful as ever.

"Well this someone is a lucky bastard."

"Luck is for losers, someone taught me that a long time ago." She said with a wink, showing him with that little act that she still had that lively personality he had liked so much back in their day.

"Someone very smart I bet." Taking a step towards her so he could be a bit nearer, Punk lowered his eyes to her lips and smirked.

"But of course," After she breathed those words out, the two former lovers remained like that, standing in the middle of catering and staring at each other; probably remembering a thing or two about their past. "So…"

"So." Phil repeated as he placed both hands to his hip. "Will you be staying for the show?"

"Oh yeah, I've been hearing about this guy CM Punk stealing the show every night and I definitely want to see that live."

Licking his lips, Punk swallowed down the urge of saying something about how her fiancé had to be a very confident man if he was allowing her to go to the show just so she could see him perform; but instead of saying that he just nodded.

"I was thinking that you know, maybe after the show was over we could go and grab a bite or something… I mean if you are not busy."

"Oh no, I'm not busy at all." He was just going to have a late dinner with Phoenix but since they did that constantly, he didn't think the current Diva was going to mind.

"Good, then I'll go and say hello to the other guys and… I'll see you around."

Smiling, Punk nodded. Oh yeah, she was definitely going to see him around…

"Did you have sex with her that night?"

"Hey, what did I tell you?" Phil asked out loud as he stared down at his daughter. "No sex questions."

"But how will I know which one of your girlfriends was mom if I don't know if you had sex with her or not?"

Phil opened his mouth to respond but before any word could escape pass his lips he closed it back again and then snorted. "How did I let you convince me about telling you this story?"

"Because…" The girl responded rolling her eyes. "Anyway, MaKi was going to get married with another man but still went to that show only to see you? Isn't that cheating?"

"Aaaaand we are so not going to discuss that, let's just say that MaKi and I were really good friends and that we went out that night just to catch up…"

"Hmmm, Cynthia is right. Guys only like women for sex."

Snorting is disbelief at the constant use of the word sex by his kid and most importantly, the context in which she was now using the damn word, Phil dropped the fork down in his plate and send the girl a look that made her look down to her own plate.

"What did I say to you? And who is Cynthia?"

Tilting her head up, the black haired girl sighed. "A neighbor, when mom has to work late she calls her to keep an eye on me."

"Okay, so she's your babysitter. How old is she?"

Rolling her eyes dramatically, the girl giggled. "Babysitters are for babies, she just keeps an eye on me."

"Yeah yeah, how old is she and why does she thinks she knows about guys and sex? But most importantly, why is she talking about it with you?"

Shrugging and dropping her fork down in the same manner her dad did a few minutes ago, the girl tilted her head to the side and quirked her lips.

Phil didn't say anything to that little petulant act only because she didn't talk back to him in the sarcastic little tone she sometimes carried with her. True, the girls probably got that from him but even though his daughter sometimes didn't know how to stay quiet, it was obvious that she recognized the signs of a serious Phil in full daddy mode and in that moment he was in one of those modes.

He really didn't like how his daughter's mind was operating around sex and as soon as he could he was going to have a serious talk with her mother about it.

Making his mind about it, the tattooed man sighed. "You dropped your fork, are you done eating?"

"No."

"Then finish up so you can do your homework."

"But today is Friday!"

"Great, that way you'll have the entire weekend for yourself."

"Will you continue with the story?"

"I don't know, it depends."

Rolling her eyes and picking up her fork, the girl took a bite of her food and chewed in silence.

Phil observed her, shaking his head ever so lightly as he pushed his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. Maybe it was that she looked exactly like her mother, but if one was to observe the way she talked and a lot of her manners, one would definitely conclude that she took up after him.

"Isabel." He said and the girl looked up, her big olive green eyes locking up with his. "I'm going to tell you something and I want you to engrave it in your mind until you are very old. Men are a bunch of pricks; you can't trust them… unless it's me of course. But because I'm not always going to be around, you really should try to stay away from them until you are I don't know, thirty, that's around the time you will start dating."

"Thirty? But…"

"No buts."

"Was mom thirty when she dated you?"

Snorting, Phil leaned forward and rested his elbows over the table. "Exactly my point," If her mom would have waited until her thirties to date around, she would have had better sense that getting pregnant by him.

Not that he was going to tell Isabel that…

"Now keep eating, and I might continue telling you this story." 

**TBC**

**A/N: **Okay, in case you were wondering MaKi is Maria (couldn't think of a better name, sorry!), Phoenix is Beth and Lita… well, you know who she is but unfortunately she's not going to be one of the three girlfriends just because she never worked with Punk…

So there's just one woman to be revealed and in case you didn't guess it, it will be the Diva he has to train :)


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Big thanks to SweetHeartCandy, xPunkifiedx, aliveagain, RKOCMJHGIRL, Warblette, rkoxkelcie and Ainat for the nice reviews; you don't know how glad I am that you like this! Anyway, in this chapter the last woman is revealed, finally! I hope you like it and just so you know, the italics this time are for Punk's memories (I didn't want to make the whole story in italics)

**ChApTeR 3**

Moving his olive green irises away from the flat TV screen hanging from his living room wall, Phil Brooks looked down to the floor so he could take on the image of his ten year old daughter lying flat on her stomach while putting all her attention on the movie playing in front of her eyes.

She seemed engrossed by it, almost as if she was in a trance and after observing her for a few minutes he just had to shake his head in amusement. To a certain point it was funny and his lips curved into a smile while he took on the expression her pretty face was making.

Sure, the girl was supposed to be doing her homework and instead she was watching a scary movie; thing that her mom would definitely disapprove so he shouldn't be smiling about it.

But Phil, well… he usually wasn't too strict when it came to his daughter's scholar duties because he remembered that as a boy he hated school with a passion and more often than not he would skip doing his homework so he could do more entertaining things like reading comics or going outside with his friends.

As for the horror movies… he loved that the girl took after him when it came to her taste in films and he encouraged her curiosity by letting her watch the good classic ones with him or even by making up messed up stories of his own.

Her mom didn't like that and she didn't like either that every time he would take her home with him, girl came back with her homework undone and with her mind running wild about serial killers, monsters and evil creatures that served as antagonist to a good super hero.

But it was what it was and he was used to the reproaches and stuff; it was almost like a routine.

Shrugging and making peace with the knowledge that Isabel would probably return to her mom's Sunday afternoon without finishing her homework, Phil leaned forward and moving silent as a shadow, he reached for her leg grabbed it.

"Gotcha!" He yelled, shaking her up.

The result was that the girl screamed as loud as she could, drew her leg away and almost jumped to her feet. "Dad!"

Pushing his back against his sofa, Phil laughed out loud; he loved doing that and he would never get tired of it. As he saw it, the girl should be used to him doing it and she shouldn't even get startled at that point.

"Oh you should have seen your face."

Pouting her lips and turning her back to the TV, the young girl sat cross legged over the floor and eyed him reproachfully. "That wasn't funny, dad."

"Yes it was. It never gets old."

As her only response, Isabel rolled her eyes and feeling unfazed, Phil blew out a breath and took a look at the hour; taking notice that it was just after midnight.

"You know what else is funny, that it's time for you to go to sleep. Haha, now go brush your teeth and we'll do this the nice way, Isabel."

"I don't like the nice way, Phil." The girl said in a mocking tone and before she could take joy in her little moment, Phil got up from the sofa quickly and the girl screamed again, jumped to her feet and ran to the bathroom.

"Okay…" Shaking his head and snorting, Phil mumbled, remembering when three or four years ago he was able to take the girl to Chicago for Christmas the first time ever.

It has been a crazy week and because the girl's mom has been very adamant that he should not ruin the big secret that there was no Santa, Phil has tried his best to make a memorable night for his girl. The result has been that on Christmas Eve, the combination of too much candy, Colt filling her head with crazy stories, Teno making her laugh with his occurrences and with Natalie spoiling her silly, the girl didn't want to sleep like at all.

That right there was a problem to him because in order for him to put her presents under the awfully decorated artificial palm tree Colt brought as a Christmas tree, Phil needed the girl sleeping. That was how their little tradition of him putting her to bed in a kinder version of his GTS started… it lasted about two years before it disappeared and that night was the first time in a long while that they played around with Punk's Go To Sleep.

Still smiling, Phil turned off the TV, checked that the door would be locked and turned off the lights of the living room. To him it was still relatively early, but since he wanted to go out early in the morning to make the best out of his time with Isabel, he needed to put her to bed or else she wasn't going to wake up until noon.

Once all was set, Phil saw the girl getting out of the bathroom and running towards her room. She was dressed for bed so in his mind he was glad that he didn't have to turn his dad mode on so she would listen.

"Dad." She called as he was passing in front of her door to say goodnight.

"Yes?" He asked, standing under the doorframe to her room and folding his arms to his chest.

Isabel was already in bed and flashing the sweet smile she would use when she wanted something from him, she tilted her head to the side and looked up to him. "Will you tell more about the story about you and mom? Pleeeeeeeaasee."

Clicking his tongue to his check, Phil hummed. "I don't know, it's kind of late and tomorrow we have to be up early."

"But Dad… I will be up early without complaining, I promise."

Blinking his eyes slowly, Phil considered it for a moment. He could tell her something brief to satisfy her curiosity and leave her content for the night… it wouldn't be mush of a big deal.

"Okay, but this will be just something short and I don't want you begging or making pretty eyes at me when I'm done, understood?"

Beaming, the girl nodded and sat on the bed; by the look on her face she was very eager to listen whatever Phil was going to say, be it short or not.

"So where was I?" He breathed out as he walked into the room so he could sit next to her in the bed.

"You and Maki were going out."

"Right, right… well, MaKi and I went out that night and we caught up…" He said, remembering that he and his ex-girlfriend had done a lot of catching up that night… twice. Not that he was going to tell that to Isabel, that was classified under the file of too information to share with his daughter. "Now I don't know if you remember that before MaKi showed up, I was supposed to meet with Phoenix. Well, the following day, Phoenix was not very happy that I went out with MaKi. She wasn't saying it but I would see it in her eyes."

"Was she mad because she was jealous?"

Chuckling at the fact that his daughter was perceptive enough to get the little details, Phil ran a hand down his jaw. "Maybe, but right in that moment I didn't see it that way; I just thought she was crabby for some other reasons and I didn't think too much about it…

"_Are you serious, Phil?" Phoenix asked as she sat at the other side of the table, her clear blue eyes staring directly into his olive green orbs while her jaw seemed painfully set._

_On his part, Punk just sat there, a big grin on his face as he remembered some of the details about his meeting with MaKi the previous night. "Serious about going out with her? Well we just went out to talk…" _

_And it has been like that at the beginning. They went to eat, they talked about everything they could think off and they had a good time; during dinner there hadn't been one single inappropriate touch between the two and other that their eyes refusing to leave each other, no one would say that they were planning on doing something that could trespassed the line of an old friendship. _

_The problem came when he had to drop her at her hotel… _

_Not that he was going to discuss that with his friend, but when the moment came to say goodbye, he just didn't feel like ending the night at her door and he didn't… they didn't._

"_Isn't she supposed to be getting married soon?" Last night she made sure we all saw her big engagement ring."_

"_Yes she is." Pushing the inside of his cheek with his tongue, Punk looked at his friend for a few minutes and sighed. Yes, MaKi was supposed to get married and what happened last night wasn't going to change that. They just… they just let themselves be carried away and that was it. It happened, they liked it and now that they got it off their systems they could move on with their lives._

_Was it wrong? To her fiancée yes it would be, but to Phil it has been more than good, especially since he was crawling out of a bad breakup. _

"_You are impossible." Phoenix said shaking her head and Punk snorted, getting up to his feet and walking to her. Once he was at her side, he pulled a chair next to her and sat down._

"_Yeah, but you love me anyway." After saying that, he took a strawberry out of her plate and ate it. _

"_No I don't; all you do is eat my food and give me headaches. I don't know how I put up with you." She said with an indifferent shrug; but when he leaned to her and kiss her cheek briefly, she didn't try to push him away._

"_You know, tonight I'm going to take you out somewhere nice. Will you love me back if I do that?" He asked teasingly, trying to cheer her up because she definitely seemed to be in full annoyed mode._

_It was weird, but he didn't understand why would anyone could be crabby in such a nice day; it was as if everything was backward, he was feeling content for the first time in weeks and now Phoenix, the most positive human being he knew was being the difficult one. _

"_I don't know, I'll have to think about it." She said with another shrug._

"_Good, good…" He said absent mindedly, knowing full well that when the night came, Phoenix was going to be there for him to take out. She was basically the only constant woman in his life, the one he could trust above any other and he wanted to make it up to her for cancelling last night in favor of MaKi. "Anyway, I have to meet with this Diva and start this shit about training her, I'll see you later." He said, giving her another kiss on her cheek before standing up and heading to the place he was supposed to meet with his trainee._

_Walking out of catering and venturing through the backstage corridors of the arena they were going to perform that night, the tattooed professional wrestler known as CM Punk headed pass the Gorilla position and walked down the ramp, taking notice that his Diva was already there._

_Now, it was still early in the afternoon so the stadium was closed to everyone but the wrestlers and the crew that was putting everything together; from lighting to sound and all the little details that made the whole live WWE experience something of another kind._

_But even though it was still too early, the ring was already there and that was where the woman he was supposed to train was, sitting in the middle of the ring while talking on her phone _

_Shrugging but happy that at least she was on time, Punk continued walking. He did it in his best spirits, whistling an old tune all the way to the ring and finally stepping into the square circle. _

"_I have to go, bye." The woman said over the phone in an annoyed tone of voice as soon as Punk got in and then she got to her feet. "Punk," She said, arching an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest._

"_Well, well, well… it seems like someone up there thinks that you, a former Divas champion need to learn how to wrestle. How messed up is that?" _

_Running her tongue over her lips, the WWE Diva blew out a breath but said nothing. _

_Punk watched that through half closed eyelids, not really knowing if the woman's silence was a sign of her being petulant or what. He knew she had a reputation of being a bit too much into herself and really, when women that thought they were the big shit were told that they weren't, they would usually feel bitter about it._

"_Okay, I'll be telling a lie if I say that I've been watching Divas perform so I don't know, can you at least run the ropes?" _

"_Depends on who you ask." The blonde woman responded, placing her hands over her hips and locking her eyes with his. _

_Arching an eyebrow and chewing hard on a fruity flavored gum he put in his mouth as he walked around, Punk snorted. "Alright, Pepe. Then let me see what you have…"_

"Pepe?" Isabel asked with a giggle. "Pepe sounds like an ugly man, eww."

Snorting, Phil looked down to his daughter. "Well this Pepe I'm talking you about is not a man, she is a woman and a very pretty one."

"How pretty?" She asked with a smile.

Sighing, Punk twisted his lips and went back in memory lane. "Very pretty." He said, thinking that not only was his Pepe pretty, but she had a killer accent that even when he loved to make fun of it, it used to drive him crazy… and not in a bad way.

"Was Phoenix pretty too?"

"Oh yeah, all of them were more than pretty, they were any men's dream come true. I ended up caring a lot about them."

"So why are you not with neither one of them?"

"Well… do you remember when I said that all men were jerks and that you should never trust one that wasn't me? Well I was a bit of a jerk back then and thinks complicated a little bit and… that will be all for tonight. Now go to sleep."

Pouting but holding up to her promise, Isabel lay down to her side and Phil kissed her forehead. At that, the girl closed her eyes and smiled. "Dad, do you still think mom is pretty?"

Breathing in, Punk got to his feet and stretched. Even with her eyes tightly shut, he could see that his daughter was eagerly waiting for an answer and he gave her an honest answer. "Your mom is beautiful, that's why I'm glad you look like her. Now goodnight, princess."

"Goodnight, dad."

Turning off her lamp and walking out, Punk went back to the living room and without bothering to turn on the lights, he sat on the sofa. Talking about the past with his daughter was making him remember a lot of things he thought he had forgotten and now, ten years later, he couldn't help but to feel a mix of nostalgia, regrets and of course, joy while remembering those three women that in one way or another, ended up meaning so much to him

Maria, Beth and Maryse… he wondered what they were doing right in that moment…

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Okay, so it has been long since my last update but here it is, next chapter. Now this one is going to start with Punk having a flashback… he's not saying this one to his daughter so you will see the women's real names (If you didn't know who they were, now you will) Hope you enjoy this little something ;)

**Definitely Maybe**

"_You know who I think is the best looking Diva right now? Eve… and Layla."_

_Snorting and leering at his friend MVP as if he has grown two heads, CM Punk straightened his back against the chair he was sitting on and then he clicked his tongue to his cheek._

"_Layla is fine but Eve… I don't know man." Punk didn't know how the hell they ended up talking about Divas, but the thing was that for some reason they were, and the talk they were having was one the small group of females wouldn't appreciate, of that he was sure._

_Now, as a rule he never talked about Divas in any aspect that wasn't professionally and let alone inside an arena, but he was among friends so it was okay. Besides, the Chicago native was known to always have an honest opinion about all the subjects in the world and since MVP brought the theme, he was merely collaborating in the convo. _

"_Why the hell not? Have you seen that ass? Hot Damn!" MVP said while motioning with both hands a gesture that wasn't very kid friendly._

_Punk laughed and by his side he could hear Wade chuckling. "Well Eve is definitely not my type, I mean don't get me wrong, she has a nice body and all that but she's too… meh."_

"_Well I don't care what you say man, trust me, if it wasn't because I made a vow of not doing any of the Divas, I would have hit that a long time ago."_

"_Yeah, and that's assuming that she would take you." Wade said and Punk nodded without saying a word._

"_Oh she would take me… trust me."_

"_Yeah yeah, too bad you will never prove it." Punk said as an afterthought and then he laughed._

_He knew what his friend thought about dating Divas because he was very vocal about it, he didn't shit where he ate so he gave a rotund no to all the Divas. _

_Of course, that was a thought that Punk didn't believe in._

"_You suck man; but anyway, who's the one that does it for you? Don't tell me, don't tell me… I saw you the other day with the sexiest of sexy so enlighten us oh Mighty Guru of the Divas, what's going on there?"_

"_Maryse? Nah… I'm just training her, nothing more."_

"_That one is fine too," MVP said putting an edge to the last word while doing that gesture with his hands once again._

_Shifting in his chair, Punk blew out a breath and then decided to speak. "You know, I won't argue about that because the woman looks good; but she has this little attitude that really ruins it for me."_

"_With that body who cares about her attitude? She's the total package, tight body, pretty face and admit it, the ones with an attitude are the ones that are fun to get wild with." MVP laughed out loud and Wade and Punk exchanged a look._

_Now, Punk wouldn't say that Maryse's attitude was the worst he has ever seen in a Diva because that wasn't the case. But it was just that for the last few weeks he has been training her and well, even though she would do and complete everything that he put her to do, she would do it with a roll of her eyes and this air of indifference that really rubbed him the wrong way._

_She was just too cocky for her own good and he was sure that her attitude was going to be the ruin of her at one point._

_Besides she wasn't that great to pack such much arrogance; she was only half decent in the ring when she was at her best and she needed a lot of improvement. But what was worse, it was clear that she wasn't putting much effort in getting better; if anything, she seemed annoyed with the fact that she had to train with him and that put her down a notch in his book._

_But bad attitude and all, there was no denying that the woman looked good; and even though he didn't do it in a lascivious kind of way, he was a man like any other and from time to time his eyes would wander through her body while she was in the ring running the ropes, taking bumps and the late one, attempting a few moves on him…_

"_You know the one I like, Beth." Wade or Stu like he was really named said and at his words Phil did a double take._

"_Beth? Beth as in my… friend?"_

_Showing him half a grin, Wade shrugged. "Yes, she's nice, she's pretty and she's not like these other birds that like to go out to get wild dressed and acting as nothing but whores. I've always thought she was someone with whom a man could settle down and yeah, I like her. Is she seeing someone?"_

"_Oh, this is serious right here!"_

_Blinking a few times and feeling his jaw clenching, Phil said the first thing that came to his mind. "She's dating… some guy; I don't know, I think they just moved together so I guess it's pretty serious." Now that was a blatant lie, he knew for a fact that Beth was single and she has been so for over a year. But for some reason he didn't want Wade to know that._

_But thinking about it, he knew exactly what it was; he knew how these guys were and he didn't want Beth dating any of them. Hell, she shouldn't be wanting to date any of them, not after her last two failed relationships; a marriage that ended as soon as she started getting a push and thus making her more relevant that her ex-husband and then a short but very awkward experience with Cody._

"_Now that's a bummer." The man said in his heavy accent._

"_Yeah, too bad man…" Oh, but just to make sure, next time he and Beth went out to eat or something, he was going to approach the subject and tell her that Wade had some sort of venereal disease… just in case._

"_But what about you, Punk; you never really told us who does it for you."_

_Shrugging and eyeing Wade suspiciously, Phil twisted his lips into a grimace. "Me? Nah I just got my ass kicked to the curve by a former Diva so I think this is it for me. Maybe I'll start living under your motto and I'll never look at one of these ladies again."_

"_Well I saw you getting cozy with Maria the other day, so…"_

_With his mind going back to his former flame and the woman with whom he spend an amazing night a few weeks ago, Punk smiled sheepishly. "Maria is just a very good friend… we just like keeping in touch."_

_In fact, as recently as the day before, Maria has called him around three o'clock in the morning and they spent the good part of an hour talking…_

_He has always had problems sleeping and finding herself unable to sleep, she ended up calling him. At least that was what she said._

"_You are a dog man, I don't know how you do it…"_

"Dad?"

"Hmmm?" Phil mumbled as he tilted his head to the side to search for his daughter. He found her with her arms folded to her chest while she eyed him questioningly. "What, what is it?"

Did something happen? They were out in the park taking a rest from their bike ride around the city and Isabel has taken off to buy some ice cream. While he waited, sitting on a bench, he has spaced out… a memory of a conversation he had many years ago invaded his mind.

Now she was there, with no ice cream in her hands and her hair falling out of her ponytail and her cheeks tinged rosy-red.

While his mind started to play with different scenarios of the thing that could have happened to her while he wasn't looking, the little girl walked to him and placing her hands on his shoulder, she frowned. "I was calling you and you were spaced out."

"Are you alright?" He said, looking at her from head to toe to make sure she was complete…

"I'm fine, I was just telling you that Bobby is here at the park and he invited me to play."

"Bobby? And who the fu… who is this Bobby that is inviting you to play?" He said, looking around to spot this _Bobby_.

"Bobby Peterson, he goes to school with me." She said pointing at a scrawny little kid that was waiting by the ice cream bus and looking at them.

He didn't seem like he weighed more than seventy pounds when wet but he hummed anyway in distrust. "Play what?"

The girl shrugged and smiled, and when she smiled he saw that she was the pure reflection of her mother. It was amazing… the girl looked exactly like her and if it wasn't because she had his eyes and his dark hair, he would say that she was a clone of the woman.

Bringing a hand up to the top of her head and returning her smile, Phil shrugged and blinked slowly. "Alright, but tell this Bobby that I'm keeping an eye on him and that I can break his arm in the blink of an eye."

Isabel slapped her forehead and rolled her eyes once again. "You know, mom is right… you are too much."

Snorting and watching his daughter turn around so she could run towards her friend; Phil sucked into his mouth his lip ring and tilted his head to the side.

After a while, he took his phone out and dialed for her number. After two rings, she picked up and like he hasn't done in a while, he smiled at the sound of her voice.

"Did you know that your daughter came to me asking me about sex?"

"She did?"

"Yeah, and now she's at the park playing with this Bobby Peterson and I'm afraid to take my eyes away from them."

At those words, he heard the mother of his daughter chuckle and then sigh. "Phil, she's ten years old…"

"So what? I heard of this little girl that was eleven when she got pregnant and I don't know about you but I'm not ready to be a grandparent."

"Wow, I think you are getting ahead of yourself. Trust me, she is curious and she asks all kinds of questions but I'm sure it's not because she's planning on anything like that and let alone with Bobby."

"Have you seen this kid?"

"I have, that's why I'm not worried." She said in an easy going tone of voice and Phil smiled again.

"She's been asking me about us as well."

"Really? Hmmm, what did you say?"

"Not much, will you pick her up tomorrow or do you want me to take her to your place?"

"I'll pick her up, I have to do a few things downtown so I'll be around. Same place same hour?"

"Yes, as always."

"Then give Isabel a kiss from my part and I'll see you tomorrow."

With that she hung up and taking in a deep breath, Phil put the phone back into his pocket while keeping an eye on Isabel.

It was weird, but talking about Isabel about his past had made him think about a few things and he was wondering about some of the things he has made.

Yeah, he screw up with the mother of his child a long time ago the same way he screwed up every relationship he ever had… and it wasn't until that point of his life that he started to wonder if there might be a way to fix it all…

Ah, probably not, but at least he had his daughter and really, things were not going bad for him overall. But still, sometimes he wished he has done things differently…

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**XxXxXxX**

"Dad, is it true that real love is forever and ever and that no matter how much time it passes, you will only love a person no matter what?"

Sucking into his mouth the small silver ring that adorned one corner of his lips and moving his olive green eyes to the side so he could take a look at his daughter, Phil Brooks took a deep long breath while keeping his eyes locked with those of the young girl.

In all fairness of being honest, he had to admit that he was a bit taken aback with the question; but as it was his nature, he answered with the truth and with nothing else but the truth.

"It depends on the kind of love you have for a person." He said at last, fixing his eyes back on the road.

"I thought love was love, why are there different kinds?" The girl asked, her eyebrow arching and a pair of eyes the same color as his piercing him intently.

"Well, there are different kinds of it. Like the love I have for you which is forever and ever. But then there's the love you have for a friend or for a sister and…"

"What about the love you feel for a girlfriend? Is that one forever too?"

Clearing his throat and shifting on the driver's seat of his car, the Chicago native grabbed the steering wheel a little bit harder and then he blew out a breath.

He knew where Isabel was going with this conversation and quite honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to talk about the subject.

"Sometimes, but sometimes we mistake as love what we feel for a certain someone when in reality it's not. I don't think you'll understand it right now; you are too young to think about it anyway."

"I saw a movie where a woman said that there was only one true love in every person's life. You know, man to woman love, not the one you have for your family and friends. She also said that you could have sex with a lot of people, but at the end the only one you want to be with is that one true love."

Unable to help it, Phil did a double take and he tilted his head to the side to stare at Isabel. Not that she noticed, she was too busy looking out the window with a dreamy expression on her face while chewing her lips absent mindedly.

"Sex with a lot of people, uh? I hope you are not planning on anything young lady, because you have at least ten more years before thinking about kissing and fifteen more before daring to have sex."

Rolling her eyes, Isabel turned her face to his. "What about you and mom, did you ever love her or you thought you did when in reality you didn't?"

Ah, there it was… the question he has been waiting for.

"I loved your mom very much, I still do, after all I have you because of her and that makes her a very special person in my life." After saying that, Phil pushed the inside of his cheek with his tongue and then he waited for an answer.

Truth be told, he has worked on that answer a long time ago and he was glad; what he didn't know was how his daughter was going to take it…

"But do you love her enough to get back together with her?"

Opening his mouth and then closing it again, Phil gasped. He didn't know how to answer that question… honestly.

"I don't… your mom and I have gone through a lot of things and I just don't think that being together is the best decision we could ever make.

"So you don't love her."

Shit, why did she have to ask such questions?

Folding her arms to her chest, Isabel turned her face away and pursing her lips, she closed her eyes.

For a moment Phil was certain that she was going to cry, but then she opened her eyes and with her face resembling that of her mom when she was angry, she started talking again. "What happened with Pepe? You said you were training her so what happened?"

Nodding and feeling glad that the subject about love was dropped, Phil took a deep long breath and puffed it out through his mouth. "Pepe… well before going to Pepe, I have to go back to Phoenix…"

"_Hey Punk, can I have a word with you?"_

_Arching and eyebrow and watching out of the corner of his eyes that there was a tall man following him as he walked through the corridors of the arena they were going to perform later that night, Punk snarled his lips and quickened his steps a little bit._

"_Shot, but do it quickly because I have to go out to train Pepe before the doors get open." _

"_This is going to be quick." The man said in his thick English accent and for some reason unknown to him, Punk felt a little pissed with him. "I know she is not dating anyone."_

_Halting for a second and folding his arms to his chest, the WWE champion eyed the first NTX winner and then he shrugged. "Yeah, and?"_

"_And? Well you told me the other night she just moved in with her boyfriend so…"_

"_Look, I don't really have time for this so stop beating around the bushes and tell me what you want to say."_

_Snorting, Wade ran his hands through his black hair and then he kept going. "Do you like her?"_

_Snorting and shaking his head from side to side, Punk threw his hands in the air and then he turned around to keep moving. He didn't know who Wade thought he was, but he didn't have to listen to anything he had to said and let alone answer stupid questions that were nothing of his concern._

"_I'm just asking because I don't want to step into anything here. I know you are friends but if there's something more I'll just forget about this and move on. But if a friendship is all there is between you, then I'm going to ask her out tonight._

_Squinting his eyes and sucking into his mouth his lip ring, Punk turned around as he felt his jaw clenching and his blood boiling as it ran through his veins. _

_It was stupid, yeah he knew, because him and Phoenix were nothing more than very good friends; but at the same time there was a nasty demon breathing fire through his nose and he was very close to punch the much taller man right in the nose._

_He didn't, of course; and instead of making up more lies to try to keep him away from his favorite Diva, he forced out a grin and shrugged. _

"_Phoenix and I are just friends."_

_At the words, Wade's lips broke into a big smile and he nodded. _

"_But Wade, you treat her bad and I swear I will hunt you down and break both your legs."_

_Laughing, the big man shook his head and he looked at Punk with his soft green eyes. "There's no need to worry about that, I'll treat her like a real Queen." With that said, Wade turned around and disappeared into a corner._

_Once out of sight, Punk remained in place and it took him three full minutes to force his legs into walking away from the spot._

_But he did it thoughtfully, his mind swirling with scary images of Beth and Wade together, walking hand in hand and kissing while he was standing right in front of him. _

_It wasn't until he made it to the ring that he was taken out of his trance._

"_I thought you were never going to show up." The words were uttered in the mellowest of tones; but underneath it Punk could detect a trace of smugness that was hard for him to overlook._

_Sure, after weeks of training with the woman he was already used to it, but that didn't mean that he has learnt to like it with time._

"_I'm late, I know. But to compensate time why don't you run the ropes twenty-five times?"_

_Rolling her eyes and throwing her arms to the ropes behind her, the blonde Diva leaned her body back and then she blew out a breath. "All I ever do here is run the ropes. Can't we skip it and just end this early, I'm not feeling so good today."_

_Arching an eyebrow and climbing into the ring, Punk eyed Pepe. She looked fine to him; if she wasn't feeling so good then she wouldn't be standing there with her hair all perfect and her make-up looking flawless. _

_Besides he wasn't in the mood to deal with her that day, his encounter with Wade has left him crabby and he was wondering why he didn't tell the man that there was indeed something going on between Phoenix and himself…_

_Not that he would be saying the truth, but at least that would have prevented the Englishman to go and ask his friend out in a date._

"_Did you warm up?" He barked, trying to force his mind back into the moment._

_Nodding, Pepe pouted her lips and tilted her head to the side._

"_Rad, then give me twenty-five and then we'll practice bumps."_

_Rolling her eyes once again, Pepe breathed in and just like she did everything he ask her to do, she started to run the ropes with her pretty face showing her displeasure. _

_Not that he noticed, that night his mind wasn't in that ring but in Wade inviting Beth out; and because he hadn't been paying much attention, Pepe did her twenty-five without him checking her progress._

"_Happy?" The blonde asked a little out of breath and running her manicured fingers through her long hair._

"_No, not really; but just let's get this done with." After saying that, he cracked his fingers and got ready to do his thing. _

_By then, he and Pepe were practicing a few moves and since two weeks ago, he was not only making her take bumps, but he was also showing her the proper manner of helping her opponent take a safe one._

_To do that, she had to lift him up and surprisingly, last week she was able to do it perfectly. That week however, she seemed to be having problems doing everything and due to his rotten mood, he didn't last to snap on her._

"_Come on Pepe, you drop someone like this on a match and you can end up crippling her. Do it right this time."_

_Brushing her hair out of her face and clenching her jaw, Pepe got to her feet and with her face set in a stoic mask, she walked to him._

_She was pissed; even though she wasn't saying it, he could see it in her eyes and not one to be intimidated by an icy cold stare, he just looked at her right in the eyes. "Come on,"_

_As she was instructed, Pepe attempted to do the move on him once again, but just as she tried to lift him, she groaned and dropped him right into the mat._

_He landed wrong, he wasn't able to break the fall with his hands and he ended up falling face first and hurting his jaw in the process._

"_What the fuck?" He began to say, but when he got to his feet he saw that Pepe was laying on the mat, one hand covering her face and the other one trying to take off her knee pads._

_It only took him a moment to understand that she hurt her knee._

_Groaning and running his hands through his hair, Punk cussed under his breath and got down to his knees. "What happened?"_

_Shaking her head, Maryse took in a deep breath and tried to sit up. _

"_Stay there. When did this happen?" He asked, his mind going a bit back in time to remember that she ran the ropes a bit slower that day and that later on, she was favoring one foot more than the other. _

_He should have put more attention to those small details, but the truth was that he didn't. Yeah he noticed, but he didn't stop to think about it._

"_Did you come to practice with your knee fucked up?" _

"_Just give me a second, okay?" Maryse hissed through clenched teeth while Punk removed the knee pad to inspect her. It seemed swollen and when he touched her she groaned. "It's just sore, it will get better."_

"_Just sore? Pepe your fucking knee is swollen and you may have fucked it up even more by coming here."_

"_That's my bad knee, this just happens sometimes." She said, sitting down and fixing her eyes on him._

"_Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, returning her stare and arching an eyebrow._

"_I told you I wasn't feeling so well."_

_Shaking his head and pursing his lips, Punk threw the knee pad away and cussed once again. "Come on, let me help you get out of here." Apparently this Pepe was as stupid as she was pretty and that was never a good combination…_

"What happened then?" Isabel asked, her anger apparently forgotten and her curiosity picking up.

"I took her to the back to get her knee checked and…"

"Did you ask her out that night?"

Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Phil shook his head no. "Nope, I didn't; back then we were not exactly getting along and it wasn't until the following week when she showed up at practice that I started to get the hang of her. You see, Pepe was like no woman I ever meet before; she was stubborn, she was beautiful and God, she made me mad like no one else could. In some way she reminded me of myself."

"And when did you ask her out?"

"I don't think I ever did, I mean we just started getting along, I started to see the inner her and one day I just kissed her."

He still remembered that day, they were at practice and after she started to complain that he would always make her run the ropes to begin with, he silenced her with a kiss.

After that things started to progress smoothly, a kiss here and there, a touch every once in a while and before he knew it, they started to go out to the surprise of many of their co-workers.

"And what about Phoenix?"

Smiling a bitter smile, Phil shrugged. "Phoenix… this is the part you won't understand, but when Phoenix started to go out with Wade and even thought I was crazy about Pepe, I couldn't help but to feel very jealous."

And jealous he has been, every time he would see her walking around with Wade aka Stu has been excruciatingly hard for him; if they kissed he would feel the need of pushing the man away from her to knock out his teeth and if he saw Beth smiling he would hate the man for making her smile instead of him.

At first he thought it was the protective side of him looking out for someone he saw as a sister, but one night when he and Maryse were in bed together making love, his mind slipped and he called her Beth while in the brims of his passion.

He didn't know how that happened, but he could remember that Maryse didn't like that and pushing him off of her, she mumbled something in her native French and stormed out.

At first he tried countless of times to call her and apologize but she wouldn't have anything of it; she didn't answer his calls and she became the master of evasion when they were in the same building. She plain and simple put on a high wall right between them and he didn't know how to tear it down.

Those where hard times for him and out of desperation, he called the only person he could think of, Beth.

Sure, he never told her why Maryse was so angry with him, but Beth tried to cheer him up anyway and in a moment of weakness he ended up kissing her.

Beth never protested the kiss, in fact she reciprocated it. Then one thing lead to another and yup, he ended up having sex with her right in his hotel room.

That was something the two of them regretted soon after it happened, Beth because she was with Wade and Phil because of Maryse. But with the French Canadian ignoring him and refusing to speak to him, Phil found himself going back to Beth and for a second time, he slept with her.

"Were you in love with Phoenix?"

Sighing, Phil blinked slowly. "I think I was, Phoenix was always the one person I could count up with and I started to think that she was the one I needed to be with."

"But you loved Pepe too? And MaKi?"

Snorting, Phil bit his lips and sent a quick glance to his daughter. "I loved MaKi for a long time, but I moved on and so did she. As for Pepe… I loved her very much too, I was just…" Confused.

Yes, he has been confused, but when Beth told him that she broke up with Wade because he was the one she really loved, Phil couldn't help but to feel his spirits soaring and his lips curving into a big smile.

He has been happy that night, more than he could remember; what he didn't know was that there was a storm forming in the horizon that he was unaware of and soon after, his life was going to change forever.

"My stomach hurts." Isabel said, closing her eyes and hiding her face behind her hands.

Phil watched her out of the corner of his eyes, and when he realized she was crying he just pulled over and turned to her.

"Isabel, sweetheart; what's wrong?" He asked in full daddy mode, reaching for her and touching her forehead to see if she had a fever.

She didn't, her skin was cool so he ended up running his hand through her hair. He hated to see her cry… he always had.

"I want to go home." She sobbed, pulling away from his touch and showing him her back.

"We'll get there soon."

"No, I want to go with mom; now…"

**XxXxXxX**

Okay so this was kind of rushed and messy, but I decided that I needed to work on some stories to finish them and this was one of the chosen ones. I hope you enjoy and in case you are wondering, Isabel realized who is her mom in Phil's story and that's why she was crying. I have someone in mind to be the mom, but I think I can go with either of the two options (yeah, I think you know who they are). If you have a preference tell me and I'll consider it ;)


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews and to Normal Chick for telling me about that awesome interview where Punk says he likes the movie Definitely Maybe ;) And yeah, this is it, hope you like it.

**XxXxXxXxX**

Taking in a deep breath and watching as his daughter Isabel jumped out of his car so she could run towards the house where she lived with her mother, Phil clicked his tongue to his cheek and blinked slowly.

With a sense of doom, he saw the girl progressing through the front lawn and once she was at the door, she opened it without even using a key and hurried inside.

"Here we go now." The tattooed man mumbled to himself, climbing out of the car and preparing himself for a big session of questions.

What did he do? He knew the mom of his child was going to ask him that with a tone full of reproach… and when he would tell her that he didn't do anything she wasn't going to believe him.

Shrugging because it wouldn't be the first time she wouldn't believe him, Phil made it to the front door and pushing the door a little, he took a look inside.

Isabel was there alright, standing in front of a sofa in the spacious living room and hugging her mom who was frowning and soothing her by running her hand through her hair.

"What happened baby?" The woman asked softly, her eyes moving to the door and settling on him.

On his part Phil just shrugged, hiding his hands inside his pockets and taking notice that Isabel's mother hadn't been alone at the moment the girl ran in… Oh no, there was a man he knew very well sitting by her side on the big sofa; a man that by the way was looking rather uncomfortable with whatever was happening.

Trying to be polite because he didn't want to feel even more awkward but wondering what that man was doing there, Phil nodded at him and the man nodded back. However, he didn't step in, he could count with the fingers of his hands the times he has been inside that house and for some reason, he didn't think that should be another one of those times.

"What happened?" The woman asked again, pulling the girl away so she could look at her face.

Breathing in, Isabel wiped at her eyes and started to talk rapidly. "You will never get back with dad, right? And we are never going to be a family."

Running the tip of her tongue across her lips, the blonde woman arched an eyebrow. "Isabel, I think we talk about this already."

"We did, and you told me you will always love dad because I was part of him and he said the same about you, but you both lied! If you really loved each other you would be together."

Cringing, Phil ran his hand down his jaw and cleared his throat. He has seen movies where this happened… hell, he knew the kid was probably going to touch the subject at one point or another; but he never imagined that she was going to do it so bluntly and with a public.

Forcing out a smile, the woman kissed the girl's cheek. "Why don't we talk about this later? Here, have you meet Ted? He is a good friend of mine."

"I don't care about your stupid friend! Tell me why you can't be with my dad?" The girl sobbed and Phil couldn't hold it, he has never seen her behave like that but he wasn't going to stand there and allow it.

"Isabel!" He called out loud from his place at the door. "Don't talk like that to your mother."

Turning around, Isabel shook her head and pursed her lips. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't cheated on her. You ruined it!"

"Okay that's enough, go to your room right now." The mom said in a severe tone, making Phil, Ted and at last Isabel stay still for a while…

Now, once the order was given and unable to think on anything to say, Phil watched as Isabel obeyed her mother, running up the stairs and then slamming a door.

He was just lost, he hadn't expected his daughter to say that and truth be told, he was a bit taken aback.

"I… I think I better go." Ted said and as if taken out of a trance, Maryse turned to him and hid her face behind her hands.

"I'm sorry, Ted; I wasn't expecting this."

"Don't worry, I have a son that age and I know how this is; ever since the divorce he is as wild as he can get. I'll call you later okay?" With that said, Ted kissed the French Canadian on the cheek.

Clearing his throat once again, Phil made his presence known. "Can I go and talk to her?"

Breathing in and nodding, Maryse lowered her eyes and Phil walked in, making it to the second floor and going straight into the room he knew his daughter was in.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw the girl laying on her stomach over the bed, her sneakers still on and her face buried into a big pink fluffy pillow.

"So." He began to say as he made it to her. "What was that down there?" He asked, trying not to be mad about the way she acted.

Sniffing, Isabel looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy with all her crying and before he could help it, he ran the ball of his finger down her cheek.

"I just want you and mom to be together. Is that too much to ask? All the kids at school have had their parents together at least once, all but me. Since I remember you are not together."

Puffing out a breath, Phil sat in a corner of her bed. "Well, your mom and I had been together and we were very happy, it's just that you were not born so you won't remember."

"But you cheated on her with Phoenix, that's why you broke up." She said knowingly.

Scratching the skin beneath his ear, Phil cringed again. "I wouldn't say cheat… anyway, how did you know who was your mom in the story?"

Shrugging, Isabel lowered her eyes. "You said Pepe had a bad knee. Mom has a bad knee so I just knew. But don't change the subject dad, was it that you never loved mom?"

Looking straight into his daughter's eyes, Phil licked his lips slowly. "I loved your mom very much, so much that I was the happiest man in the world when I knew we were going to have a baby."

Sure, she told him in a time where they were broken up beyond repair but that didn't mean that he hadn't been happy about it.

"But you loved Phoenix more? That's why you never got back with mom?"

"I didn't get back with your mom because I was a jerk and she knew it. Now I won't lie, I hurt her and there's nothing I regret more in the world than the way we ended things… but things happened that you won't be able to understand now and well, it is what it is now."

Biting on her lips, Isabel leaned into him. "What if you work very hard on getting her back, I would help you."

Smiling, Phil shook his head. "I don't think it would work, we would get on each other's nerves and this would end like the third World War. In fact, do you want me to tell you a secret? Your mom and I tried to get back together a few years after you were born; but things were different, we were both different and we decided that it was better to stay like this."

"But you could try again, dad, please."

"I'm sorry…"

"So you do love Phoenix more?"

Snorting, Phil shook his head. "It's Beth, her name is Beth, not Phoenix."

With a lone tear sliding down her face, Isabel shrugged.

"You know that you need to apologize to your mom and Ted for the one you pulled down there, right?"

Looking sheepishly at him, Isabel nodded. "Is that Ted mom's boyfriend?"

Unable to hold it, Phil chuckled. "I don't know, but if he is that son of a bitch finally did it." Oh yeah, he has been aware of the way Ted used to look at Maryse back when he was dating her and he never liked it…

Sure, that has been ten years ago and a lot of things have happened since then so who knew?

"Well I don't want that son of a bitch with mom."

"Hey," Phil said, tapping a finger to her lips and shaking his head. "Don't talk like that, and Ted is a good guy, I guess…"

"What about Beth? What happened to her?"

"We never got to anything serious, I mean when she found out your mom was expecting you she just stepped back." And when he said step back, he meant that she cut clean with him, telling him that there was no way she was going to get in the middle of him and Maryse.

Yeah, he has been crabby and on the edge that day and he remembered that he told her that it was too late for that, that if she hadn't wanted to get in the middle of them, then she shouldn't have slept with him.

Ah, that got to her real bad and that was the last conversation they ever had. She started to avoid him like the pest, she blocked his twitter, his phone and she even stop hanging with their common friends.

That stung, Phil couldn't deny it, but because his pride was huge back in those days, he never tried to get on her good side ever again and now, ten years later they had become completely strangers.

"I think you should call her. I mean if she's the one you really love then you should call her."

"Wait a second, two minutes ago you were begging me to go back to your mom and now you want me to go with Beth?"

Shrugging, Isabel pulled away and lay down on her side. "Just if you are in love with her… which you should be, I mean you let someone as pretty as mom go away because of her so..."

Snorting and leaning down before kissing the top of her head, Phil got to his feet and stretched. "That happened ten years ago, she probably doesn't even remember me."

And if she did, she probably hated him as if it was that day when he pissed her off.

"Try it." Isabel said as he walked out the door.

Frowning, Phil walked to stairs, finding Maryse sitting on the top one. She was with her chin in her hands and her eyes lost in the distance.

"I talked to her, she's going to apologize to you and Ted." He said, taking the liberty of sitting by her side.

Tilting her head towards him, Maryse licked her lips and blinked slowly. "Good."

"Yeah, she just had this crazy idea that we should be back together."

Pursing her lips, Maryse rolled her eyes. "Yeah, as if he could, we would end up killing each other and she would have no choice than to beg us to break up."

Snorting, Phil agreed, his eyes fixing into hers and taking the details of her face. She was as pretty as that day when he first kissed her, maybe even prettier and remembering that day he smiled. "You know I loved you right?"

"I know, I loved you too…"

"We had a good run," He said, still looking into her eyes and then chuckling. "But anyway, you and Ted uh? I didn't know you like rednecks."

"Ugh, shut up." Maryse said, pushing him and looking away from his eyes. "We have been talking for two months now; you know, going out and stuff."

"Stuff, uh? Interesting… son of a bitch."

Arching an eyebrow, Maryse smiled, leered at him and Phil shook his head, grabbing her hand and lacing his fingers with hers.

The gesture seemed natural and bringing her hand to her lips, he kissed her knuckles. "If he hurts you, I'm after him; you better tell him that."

With that said, he let go of her hand and getting up to his feet he walked down the stairs. His intention has been to get out and drive back to his place, but then Maryse called his name and he looked back.

"Phil. I think you should call her, Isabel is right; if you changed me for her then the least you could do is be with her." Winking at him, Maryse smiled slyly and tilted her head to the side.

"Is this Maryse speaking? Telling me to go to Beth? Nah…" Fuck, he was sure that she hated Beth, not that he could blame her, but still…

Shrugging, Maryse ran her manicured fingers through her long hair. "I moved on, ten years is a long time. Besides I got Ted and that's enough for me."

"I don't even want to ask if this romance is new or not, I really don't."

"It is,"

Smiling, Ted nodded and turned to leave.

Once in his car, he closed the door and taking out his phone, he searched in his contacts and saw her number. Or at least the phone number he got out of Natalya a few years ago when he ran into her in a wrestling event.

She could have changed it by then, but maybe she hadn't…

Not wanting to go in circles, he pressed the bottom to call her and pressed the phone against his ear. It rang three times and then she answered.

"Hello."

He recognized the voice at once and all of a sudden he was invaded by a torrent of memories and emotions. Beth, more than a brief lover, this woman has been his best friend, his confident and the only person he could count it no matter what.

But yeah, like all the relationships that mattered to him, he screw things with her as well.

"Hey, it's me… Phil."

"I know," She said simply; "You have the same number you had years ago." She said with a soft laugh and Phil smiled in return.

"So there goes my plan of faking it's someone else and hanging up, crap."

"Yup, it went down the drain, just like mine of ignoring the call while pretending it was a wrong number."

Pushing his lip ring with the tip of his tongue, Phil puffed out a breath and ran his free hand down his face. "Good thing you didn't do that. Look, this may sound weird to you but I've been thinking a lot about you and well, under the insistence of a little someone I just decided to call you."

"Really, and who is this little someone?"

"My daughter." He said, taking the risk that she would hang up on him because an invasion of old memories.

"I see… I just don't want to ask how that came to happen."

"It's a long story."

"So how is she, she must be what, ten?"

Lowering his eyes, Phil could imagine Beth chewing on her lips as she talked to him. "Yes, ten years old and bold as if she was fifteen. Look, um… you don't mind that I call you, right?"

Keeping silence for a few seconds, Beth made him wait for an answer. But then she breathed out and replied. "No, I don't. It's good to hear from you. Are you still in Chicago?"

"I'm in LA right now but yeah, I'm still living in Chicago. Same old place, same old number, you know me. How about you, still in New York?"

"Canada, actually. I'm working in a wrestling school up here."

"Yeah I heard." With that said, he looked up to Maryse's house and blinking slowly, he said what he wanted to say, direct to the kidney as always. "I want to see you."

Another long pause, but they she cleared her throat and spoke softly. "Why?"

"I just do. Are you seeing someone?"

"Just a bunch of kids out of high school that want to make it into the business and an eighty year old grandma that serves the best food up here, other than that no. You?"

"A ten year old pretty girl that was cursed with a quick mind and a quicker tongue to respond."

"Oh, sounds serious." She said, her tone laid back and more personal. "I'm kind of intimidated."

"I'm flying from LA straight to Canada, where are you exactly?"

Snorting, Beth cleared her throat. "I see you want to see me real bad uh?"

"I do, like I told you; I've been thinking about you and everything that happened ten years ago and I really want to see you."

"Hmm, well I'm in Toronto,"

Smiling at the fact that she was willing to see him, Phil turned on the engine and put the car in drive. "Rad, so I guess I'll see you soon?"

"Yes, seems like you will."


End file.
